Powerless Middlesex Isolated In Recesses Of 100th District

As the race for delegate for the 98th District comes down to the wire, Middlesex residents are watching from the sidelines, and they're not happy about it.

Middlesex is surrounded on all sides either by the five counties in the 98th or by water. But Middlesex is part of the 100th District, along with Accomack and Northampton counties on the Eastern Shore across the Chesapeake Bay.

Middlesex was separated from the 98th when the state was redistricted following the 1980 census. Both Republicans and Democrats say the separation hurts the county.

Even the delegate who represents the county, Robert S. Bloxom, R-Mappsville, says he is unhappy with the districting. From Saluda in Middlesex, it's about a 90-mile trip - down Route 17, through Gloucester, Newport News, Hampton and Norfolk and across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel - just to the southern tip of the Eastern Shore. To Bloxom's auto parts business in Accomack County, it's almost 60 miles farther.

Stingray Point in Middlesex and Silver Beach in Northampton are in fact only about 15 miles apart - by boat.

"It's such a large district," Bloxom says. "I'm not really sure that's fair. Fortunately, many of the issues are compatible, such as water and agriculture."

Access to constituents is a problem, he says. Bloxom man ages to visit Middlesex about five times a year and holds a forum with county residents every fall.

Middlesex Democrats point out that with a population of 8,600 compared with around 49,000 in the two counties on the Eastern Shore, it would be practically impossible for them to mount a challenge to Bloxom, who is running unopposed this election.

When Bloxom faced Democrat Donald L. Hart Jr., a member of the Accomack County Board of Supervisors, in 1985, Bloxom lost Middlesex by 326 votes but carried the district 1,412 to 1,086. Bloxom was unopposed in 1987.

"He represents us well," says Virginia T. Caskie of Urbanna, a member of the Middlesex Democratic Committee. "But I thought at the time redistricting happened: `We were disenfranchised.' I hope we will get our rights back and have the possibility of having someone from our side represent us."

In the first attempts at redistricting after the 1980 census, the Eastern Shore was a district in itself, while other districts such as the 98th had more than its share of residents. The present configuration was created in 1982 after a panel of federal judges ruled that Virginia had to do a better job of creating districts of equal size.

Middlesex Democratic Committee Chairman Benton H. Pollok says the redistricting benefited 98th District incumbent Harvey B. Morgan, R-Gloucester. Morgan was challenged by Middlesex resident Edward P. Harrow Sr. in 1981 and would have faced him again if Middlesex had remained in the same district as the rest of the Middle Peninsula. When asked to choose which county should go to the Eastern Shore, Morgan chose Middlesex, according to Pollok.

Morgan says the decision to cut Middlesex out "was made by 100 people," meaning all the members of the House of Delegates.

"Nobody liked it," he says. "It was just very unfair both to the people of Middlesex and to Del. Bloxom." He denies politics was a factor in the decision.

"I opposed cutting Middlesex out of our district," he says.

Bloxom considers himself "one of the fortunate ones," the 52 delegates who are unopposed. While Morgan and his Democratic challenger spent one day last week going door to door and speaking at civic clubs, Bloxom caught up on office work.

"You still have to do something," he says of running unopposed. "But you can do it in your own time frame. ... It's more enjoyable."

He has run newspaper ads and also meets with civic groups, schools and residents. He visited the Urbanna Oyster Festival over the weekend. But he is spared the laborious task of knocking on doors to meet voters, he says.

In Middlesex, even voters who support Bloxom, such as Barbara Borkey of Urbanna, chairwoman of the county Republican Committee, feel the disadvantages of the split district.

"It would make it a whole lot easier not to have to go across the Chesapeake Bay to get to your delegate," she says.